Sunday 21 May 2017

Players Championship 11/12 aftermath

I think that most of this weekend's awards should be fairly controversial, not that any controversy can be made if nobody reads things anyway, but here we go:

Performance of the weekend - This is easily Rob Cross. A second Pro Tour title, coupled with a semi final and qualification for one of the European Tour events is easily the best performance. Such is his start for the season, it's incredibly likely that he won't need to qualify for another European event again - Burton's spreadsheet indicates he's currently at #17 on the relevant rankings. There's other contenders - Wright managed to win the other event, Whitlock had two quarters, as did Jonny Clayton, who was close to making both European events which were played for on Friday, losing out in one to a resurgent Mickey Mansell who had a great run today. Lower down the rankings, Andy Boulton did alright but I'll mention him later, Mansell did little wrong, Steve Lennon ran well along with Richard North, also Bryan de Hoog showed briefly why he was close to winning a tour card with two cashes, one for a last 16 run.

Best tournament performance - Andy Boulton for me. A Pro Tour semi final is a tricky thing to make, and he beat Cullen in round 1, Meulenkamp, Hine and de Hoog are no mugs, and then he turned over Suljovic before running into Daryl Gurney. Elsewhere, Ian White's final run is a contender, de Graaf had a nice Saturday as well.

Best single match perfomance - I have to give something to Peter Wright, and I'll give it for the semi final against Rob Cross, it seems as if he managed to win five out of the six legs he won in twelve darts or less, which is phenomenal throwing, regardless of how good you are. To do that two days after one of the most gutting events in your professional career makes it all the more special. Some people I'll mention in dispatches are Vincent van der Voort, who crushed Bunting 6-0, while he's not playing great, neither is Vincent, Mickey Mansell also managed a 6-1 win over Adrian Lewis, which can never be easy.

Worst weekend long performance - Adrian Lewis only winning £500 over the two Pro Tour events is close, although he did make both European Tour events. Whether he later withdraws is another question. I'll give it to Steve West though - messing up the one European Tour qualifier he was in, losing to Lee Bryant as the number 2 seed, then losing in the first round twice to Keegan Brown in the Pro Tour events. Caven deserves a mention, winning 1 leg in the two European Tour qualifiers, but at least he beat Stuart Kellett.

Worst single tournament performance - Wade losing to Searle seems like a good shout if we're not going to give it to Lewis for either of the fails mentioned above.

Current adjusted top 20:

1 Michael van Gerwen
2 Peter Wright
3 Gary Anderson
4 Dave Chisnall
5 James Wade
6 Raymond van Barneveld
7 Mensur Suljovic
8 Adrian Lewis
9 Jelle Klaasen
10 Simon Whitlock (UP 4)
11 Michael Smith (UP 1)
12 Benito van de Pas (DOWN 2)
13 Kim Huybrechts
14 Phil Taylor (DOWN 3)
15 Ian White
16 Daryl Gurney (UP 1)
17 Gerwyn Price (DOWN 1)
18 Alan Norris
19 Joe Cullen
20 Robert Thornton

Outside of the top 20, Terry Jenkins has now slipped to 27, Cross is now within the top 40, Clayton is within the top 45, and plenty of new names like Richard North, Peter Jacques and Steve Lennon are now solidly within the top 100.

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